I stayed home from school Thursday and Friday so today hardly felt like a Saturday but I enjoyed it all the same! I’ve been having an enjoyably productive morning/afternoon and I’m feeling good.

My big plan for this morning was my second free session at Physique57. A came up into the city with me to drop off some forms so it was nice to sit with him on the train. I snacked on a Boomi Bar on the ride.

All of these flavors are good but Maple Pecan is by far the best.

I loved my Physique57class again! I really enjoy strength classes that make you sweat without cardio. You feel your entire body working during the hour but the instructors change up the exercise enough that it isn’t impossible. I highly recommend that other NY’ers check this out – I might even pay to go to some classes this summer!

A met me after class to do some shots,

Machta Energy Shots that is! Excuse the haggardness, I told you the class was difficult!

I did a double with soy milk. I also ate 3 of A’s Popchips on the subway ride home.

After a shower and setting up my laundry (thanks Bear you are the greatest!) I got down to business. I looked at programs and applications and have a long list of numbers to call on Monday. I ordered some study guides for this summer. And I finally set myself up at Todoist 🙂

We have some more errands to run and then a fun event (fingers crossed with the weather) for this evening. See ya later aligators!

Do you ever go to smoothie stores? I would prefer to make them at home but since our blender broke I have made the occasional Jamba stop and I can’t say I don’t enjoy it! The key is to get things made with normal ingredients – ice, juice, fruit – and avoid anything made with ice-cream or a “base.”

There are so many things to be excited about in this post I don’t even know where to begin! My train breakfast was a favorite,

Peanut Butter Cookie is my favorite Lara flavor by far.

School was easy today – I taught 2 periods, had 2 periods of graduation rehearsal, and then had a half day. We had a quick labeling assignment to do and then I had the afternoon to start cleaning my classroom. I gave Mr. H 99% of my stuff so I’m glad all the chart paper I slaved over will not be going to waste.

For lunch I went the trail mix route.

I call this Peanut Better Trail Mix. 1/4C each peanuts, dried blueberries, and pb m&m’s for a filling 570 serving.

This was bigger calorie-wise and smaller volume-wise than what I usually pack but I ended up feeling in good full-ness and enjoyment. I also had a baggie of green grapes.

The school provided lunch, which I obviously skipped, but I did eat a slice of unphotographed cheese cake.

I left for home promptly at 3o’clock and got slammed with a migraine before I even made it in the front door. I almost missed my fun activity but thank goodness medicine and a nap kicked in on time. This didn’t hurt to perk me up either.

When I saw fellow Brooklyn bloggers getting Newman’s Own Organics boxes (complete with fancy mints I’d never seen before) a while back I was quite jealous. Several people recommended that I ask for my own and I decided to plead wildlynicely request my own sample. Sally more than generously agreed and I expected a small sampling. Holy frick.

Re-dic-u-lous amount of food. A and I were deeply struck by the generousity. Expect to be seeing a ton of Newman’s Organic Own products in my posts for the next 10 years 🙂

I floated on a cloud of thankfulness and happy thoughts to my next activity – another fitness first, this time with Vani. We did a 45 minute spin class at Crunch. This was my 1stish try at spinning and I sucked but I also loved it. My history? My mommy loves to spin but I’ve always been a bit scared of it.

The one time I did go to a class with her I was the youngest person in the room by at least 20years and the worst by at least 50 gasps per minute! I did my best to keep up but about 5 minutes in my foot slid out of the strap and my knee slammed into the handle. What’s worse than getting your butt kicked by the last generation? Having to leave early, bloody!

This time I still sucked, but I made it through the entire class, all limbs intact. Sadly, we have no more gym membership as of July 1st but I am going to try to attend a few gym classes over the next two weeks.

After class Vani and I walked down to 7th Avenue for some fresh juice. I got carrot-papaya-apple.

This was the perfect pick me up. Plus it filled me up and basically became dinner. I did have about 1/4 of A’s tuna salad sub when I got home.

And A spent the rest of our evening doing some serious discussing. There is a LOT going on right now with plans for next year and I got some very interesting news today. Hopefully by the end of the week I should be able to give you guys some updates.

Well, things have certainly gone much more smoothly since my last post! It’s been a fabulous weekend and I still have a block of Sunday night left 🙂

After my post yesterday A and I headed to the movies. I packed some good snacks,

the rest of my TJ’s unsweetened dried pineapple and a baggie of green grapes, but also supplemented with movie candy,

Shockers. The movie was good but not great – Ryan Reynold and Sandra Bullock were amazing as usual but the storyline was pretty flat.

After the movie A and I knew we were a little hungry but couldn’t decide on what. We had to pick up Father’s Day cards so we stopped at Barnes and Nobel and got small pb cookie dough ices along the way.

I gave half of mine to A and then we ended up wandering more than 2miles to Flatbrush! By the time we made it to dinner at Mangowe were mega hungry! I ordered steamed veggie dumplings as my appetizer.

These were wonderful, very chewy. The veggies had a nice meaty taste and the sauce had a little kick to it. I only at half because I was super excited about my meal – See U Noodles! Broad rice noodles are my absolute favorite, which means you’ve seen them before which is good because I randomly have no picture.

We headed home after dinner and I’d like to say it was time for bed but for some reason it seemed appropriateto me to spend more than an hour watching Royal Pains on Hulu.

Late bedtime aside, I was more than ready to get up for my adventure this morning! I packed up a bag and headed into Manhattan. On the train I tried one of these Raw-Revolution bars for breakfast.

I did the chocolate coconut flavor – delish! This was chewy and chocolatly and pretty much perfect. I was full of energy when I reached my final destination.

Physique 57. Months ago Melissagave a bunch of bloggers a free pass and I think I’m the last person to use it. I did a 60minute beginner’s class, it was strength moves for the whole body using weights, a ballet bar, a beach ball, and a mat. I was terrible, the instructor corrected my back like 8 times and I still don’t know how I was supposed to be. And I loved it. I booked a class for next Saturday before I even left.

This was a 16oz Peach Pleasure with a whey protein boost. I wanted the protein boost but this flavor was not happening, I brought the 2nd half of it home for A. I can’t wait ’till we move so I can buy a blender!

I had a busy but fun afternoon – painted my nails, ran some errands. I had a $9 credit at Staples (from my teacher rewards card) that I obviously don’t need so I bought some nuts and candy there and then I headed to the grocery store to buy some goods for dinner tonight. I was dying for a snack by the time I got home so I ate the other half of my veggie dumplings from last night.

Then I had a romantic snack with A ❤. We went to Union Market for fun the other day and got foccacia,

and this beauty –

Guinness Cheddar Cheese. Yums! A made me thin slices so it looked like more.

So good, you could really taste the beer!

We have a fun dinner planned tonight but first we are going on a walk to run some errands I forgot earlier, see ya later alligators!

What new fitness routes have you tried lately? Did you enjoy them? I am a new convert to Physique 57 and I’m actually trying something new tomorrow too!

Another fabulous day! My friends got in late last night we we slept in ’till around 9 then got up and hung out. The three of us are all English teachers so we have dorky-fabulous conversations when we first get to catch up.

To start the day off right K and I did a 2mile run around my ‘hood. C stayed home to work on some schoolwork. I was so happy to get my day started on the right foot.

After some showers we headed our to our first fun NY event – Atlantic Avenue Artwalk. Basically all of Atlantic Avenue was set up with local artist displays and the nearby restaurants and bars all had specials.

First things first, we headed to the Nut Box for some gelato!

This was Maple Gingersnap – fantastic!

We saw a lot of great art.

We got to go into into a backroom to see the silkscreening process. I really enjoyed this.

And A and I even bought a piece of local art!

We’ve been wanting to buy some local pieces before we move so we were pretty psyched to find this. It is a photo/painting blend of a shot of one of our favorite areas of NY (DUMBO).

We sampled some local flavors too. Lemonade with strawberry rum.

Delish! Not as good was the “Beautiful South” K and I shared,

it was made with bourbon, amaretto, and strawberries but the bartender went way heavy on the bourbon.

We walked all the way through art walk and then walked home, all total it was 1.97mile stroll. On the way home we spread the Burrito Bar love and stopped in for linner. With complimentary chips and salsa of course.

I would like to say we split these four ways but in reality I had most of them. For my meal I got the fish tacos.

They were impossible to pick up so I had to use my fork. I also had 1/2 of the cheesy rice and beans they came with.

Then we headed home to change for our biggest adventure:

Wicked! This is my favorite book of all time (Gregory Maguire is a genius, I recommend all of his works) so I was super excited to see the play. K’s aunt is amazing and she got us tickets just a few rows back! I loved the way they decorated the whole theatre in theme.

And this was the funny sign over the exit.

At intermission I bought a diet coke in a souvenir cup; I was clearly excited.

I also ate a serving of K’s Sour Patch Kids. I enjoyed the play greatly, although I wished parts of it had stayed closer to the book. There were some great humorous scenes – the actresses who played Glinda and Elphaba were amazing!

Afterwards we walked through Times Square. They recently blocked off through traffic so it was nice to walk around without as many cars. C and I split a pretzel on the way home (of which I inexplicably have no photo).

And now I’m bushed and it’s time for bed. It was a great first day of visiting with my friends, can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Sorry for my two day absense – my obsessive need to be near A has lead me to make some stupid (but fun!) decisions. I’ve done a LOT so this with be a slightly less detailed account. It’s been a greattwo days, but I’ll backtrack…..

I try not to eat Balance Bars all the time because they do have 2.5 – 4grams of saturated fat, but they sure are good!

For lunch I packed a Fiji apple,

a TJ’s Nonfat Honey Greek Yogurt,

and 1serving of Doctor Kracker Fire Roasted Crisps.

The apple was super mealy so I only ate half but the crackers and the yogurt hit the spot.

After school I rushed around trying to get some program applications (I’m going to try to post about this on Thursday) filled out and faxed. It was a lovelyspring day and I was glad I dressed in season for school.

The picture is blurry but here is the flowery fabric –

I love this shirt, I got it and the same but in black from H&M last year.

With more rushing, I even managed to make it to the gym for a class. 1st I did 15minutes (2walk/13jog) on the treadmill to warm up. I did 1.6miles. Then I headed into a 30minute Abs and Stretching class . Holey Moley, I couldn’t even finish all of the sets!

Next up, making dinner. I did some snacking while cooked, I serving each of turkey pepperoni and salted peanuts.

It is also possible that I ate an ice-cream Snickers bar.

Yums.

Dinner was very veggie,

baked tofu in a sea of roasted brussels sprouts with a small pile of coleslaw. I had never eaten a brussels sprout before this year but now roasted they are one of my favs.

The tofu I drained, pressed, sliced, then drizzled with evoo and a sprinkle of dried mustard and paprika, baked for 25minutes at 475*. My eyes were bigger than my stomach, I only ended up eating 2slices (1/3 of the package).

And finally was homemade cole slaw, recipe below.

All together.

The cole slaw was inspired by this sale item at the grocery store –

Cole Slaw Recipe

4C shredded cabbage

3T mayo

3T apple cidar vinegar

1t sugar

1/2C raisins

Mix to combine and Done. I’m sure this will be even better leftover. I love raisins in cole slaw.

Somehow after dinner A convinced me to see a 10:15 showing of “Drag Me to Hell.” Drag me to Hell is right – Worst.Movie.Ever. Seriously, I don’t know if you guys remember the year in the ’90’s when 80 movies in a row were terrible (Godzilla, Breakdown, etc.) but this movie was worst than all of those movies combined! Even scarier was what I ate during the movie (I always eat a ton during scary movies) – an entire container of pretzel bites with fake cheese and a box of cookie dough bites. Seriously, I’m glad I don’t have pictures. A calls me a goldfish, I actually made myself nausous.

This morning I was still feeling so gross from the movie-crapfest that my train breakfast didn’t get eaten until well into 2nd period!

Doesn’t that sound good? Well, no, no it was not. I took about 2 bites before I decided I’d rather be hungry.

I stayed after school to conference with some kids then rushed to the post office to main in an application. A was my knight in shining armor today – it was pouring and he came and met me at the train with an umbrella. Even better, he let me talk him into a meal at Sweet Melissa!

It was wet and chilly enough out for a hot drink so I took full advantage, Sugar and Spice Latte.

was served on a crossaint and had green apples and golden raisins in it.

Delish. Usually I don’t eat the bread on restaurant sandwiches (and I never eat crossaints) but today I ate the whole thing and it was delicious.

A and I hung out at home for a bit and then he said he was going for a run. Well, my plan for June is to slowly get back into running shape doing intervals but I’m a crazy-face who misses my husband all day so I jumped up and said I’d go too! We did some loops in Prospect Park and a few little loops in the Slope. And get this – in 35minutes (I ran the exact time of my 35minute gym playlist on my i-pod, which was an exciting coindence) we did 4.4miles! Not only did I know think I could run for 35minutes straight I never thought I could do more than 3miles this out of shape! Other than a few quick stops for boob adjustment (holey heck I need new sports bras) we ran the entire time. And my ankles/knees don’t even hurt yet (keeping my fingers crossed)! I can not even describe to y’all how excited I am.

Fred Durst lyrics aside, I’ve been on a roll this week with the productivity! I’m pretty proud of today if I do say so myself.

I had no train breakfast (or lunch) today because A and I were going back to the doctors to get the blood tests we missed from last week. It was interesting day of school – I did not teach a single class. Exit projects for science and social studies are due tomorrow so every single period of 8th grade for the last 2 days has been devoted to finishing them. It’s not that I mind helping with the projects, but isn’t the school sending the wrong message by instituting a mad rush?

I stayed after school to re-average grades for students who handed in make-up work today and then I met A at the doctor’s office. Quick and painless. I’m not afraid of needles, but I should be – I have really small veins and the last 3 times I got blood taken it involved 8+ sticks and a popped vein! A went before me and was nice enough to save me his post-test leftovers.

He brought me about 1/4 of a Chipotle chicken burrito bowl.

I ate it on the walk home.

I didn’t even have time to sit when we got home because I had to make a quick turn around to make it to the gym by 6:15. I did the best I could to approximate a meal by drinking a chocolate EAS on the walk.

60minutes of Virgin Yoga is just what I needed – I’m still sore from the class on Tuesday! My balance is pitiful, even the first-times look more graceful than I do as I flop around like fish.

When I got home I hunkered down to work and finished my plans/materials for tomorrow, and 90% of next week, and 50% of the week after that! The reason I had to do tomorrow is because I was informed that I will be teaching Social Studies for the next two days due to the upcoming state exam.

After all of the indulging over the week (and the last week/month/year!) I was more than ready to get back to the basics today. I’m often torn – I know I’m probably leaving nyc in July and I want to experience as much as possible, but at the same time this is my life and I’m getting tired of feeling out of shape and out of sorts. Two of my best friends are coming to visit in 10days and I know we’ll be doing lots of eating and drinking so this is a good time to get myself resettled.

A and I could not get out of bed this “Monday” morning – we stayed in bed past 7! I woke up at 6 and then proceeded to have a terrible nightmare while I snoozed. My dream was so upsetting I actually felt out of it my whole way to school. My Boomi Bar did snap me out of it a little though 🙂

I tried the Macademia Paradise today, even though this is my least favorite flavor of the three I tried so far it is still good!

For lunch I prepped a museli last night,

Nonfat plain Oikos Greek yogurt, 1/4C oatmeal, 1small banana, and some Nuts Online dried blackberries. My parents bought me these berries as a gift so I’ve been trying to enjoy them but I’ve decided that they are inedible; they were so sour I had to eat around the parts of the mix that they touched. It was still delish though.

I also packed a blood orange but I was so busy helping kids that I never got a chance to eat it, it is on my desk for tomorrow.

I stayed after school for about an hour helping kids and when I got downstairs I got the fun news that final grades are now due on Thursday. Yes, that is Thursday as in all of my final grades are due 2 days from now. Yes, that is Thursday as in we will be having a month of school in which the students will not be graded. Fun stuff.

I was super hungry when I got home so I made the mother of all “snacks,” this thing had courses! 1st course – the last scrapings of the Smuckers Natural Honey Peanut Butter jar, about 1.5T total.

2nd course – sliced pear with walnuts and blue cheese crumbles.

This was very tasty – the only improvement could have been a little drizzle of fresh honey but unfortunately I’ve been out of that for months.

3rd/dessert course – strawberry chocolates and my vitamens. The candies kind of look like carrots, which makes me smile. But the picture will not load, which makes me not smile.

I did some stuff for school applications (I am hitting all sorts of walls!) and then A and I headed to the gym. I went to a 60minute Pilates Mat Class that kicked my patootie. No matter how busy life is the last 5weeks of school I am making a commitment to fitness, I never want to be this out of shape again.

We took a long walk home to pick up Emily crack, a.k.a. diet soda, and then got started on dinner. I based my meal around this More Than Tofu Spicy Thai Tofu.

I baked my tofu for 30minutes at 475*. A chopped yam joined tofu in the sauna, along with some purple asparagus. Meanwhile, we heated some frozen collard greens in a pan uptop. I seasoned my greens with maple syrup and red pepper flakes, then topped them with yam and tofu.

My bowl had half the tofu package and half of the medium yam – so tasty!

I ate the roasted purple asparagus as my side.

And a tall glass of skim milk.

All together.

It was a pretty great dinner if I do say so myself!

I can’t really start grades until tomorrow because kids still are handing things in and I know tomorrow night is going to suck so tonight I’m going to shower and watch Adult Swim! I hope everyone else had a pleasant start back to the work week.